Microsoft PopFly Looks Like Yahoo Pipes On The Xbox
Based on reports from people who’ve seen it in action, the graphics capabilities of Microsoft’s Silverlight are superior to those of competing web apps platforms like Adobe Flash/Apollo and JavaFX. So it’s no surprise that Microsoft put Silverlight’s eye-popping graphics muscle to the fore in its new PopFly mash-up creation tool.
PopFly lets webapp developers build mash-ups of different data services on the web using a shiny, chrome-laden user interface. Microsoft has always produced some of the best developer’s tools — that’s how they built their huge, loyal developer community. I haven’t seen it (PopFly is a closed beta right now), but based on screenshots floating around the blogs, it looks downright slick.
My first thought when I saw the pictures earlier today was, "Oh, it’s what Yahoo Pipes would look like if it was on the Xbox."
Robert Scoble puts the power of these visual mash-up creation tools into perspective:
When I first saw this demoed a few months ago the Microsoftie who showed it to me literally built TwitterVision in two minutes right in front of me without writing code. TwitterVision’s inventor told me he took four hours to do the same thing. Lets someone who isn’t a coder (like me) mashup various Web services easily and quickly.
PopFly and visual programming environments like it do a lot to promote these proprietary platforms for webapp development. Apollo and JavaFX are also fighting out in this space to win the loyalty of the web’s tinkerers. So here’s a question: Do any of these flashy apps (no pun intended) create better, more accessible web services than the good old programmable web?
Pic from TechCrunch’s review:
